Blood and Feathers
by Erin Elric
Summary: Castiel gets captured by a group who is after him for his blood and feathers. Little does he know the ordeal doesn't end with him being saved by the Winchesters
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I'm new to the series. I started this story when I was on season 7 I am now at season 10. Although this story isn't going to take place in a certain season._

Hunting with the Winchester brothers can be a fascinating and freighting ordeal. Castiel thought to himself as he gazed out of the window of the Impala.

They had just wrapped up a job involving a very nasty ghost and a young family. It was a pretty simple salt and burn as Castiel was still learning how to be a hunter.

"I think we have earned ourselves a drink." said Dean

Sam let out an annoyed sigh. "Really Dean, after today I'm ready for a shower and bed." Digging up the remains of the dear departed was difficult this time as it had been raining. Sam felt like he was covered in mud from head to toe.

Dean shook his head, "Come on man live a little. It's only eleven. It's too early for bed grandpa." Dean somehow didn't get as dirty as Sam.

"Dean." Sam responded annoyance dripping from his voice.

"Come on it was a good hunt. We should celebrate Cas learning something new" Dean exclaimed with a toothy grin

Sam rolled his eyes then looked in the back seat at the angel. "Well Cas you want to celebrate?"

"If Dean feels it is necessary that we celebrate." Castiel responded

"Oh its necessary." Dean said grinning even bigger than before. "I want to go back to that bar from yesterday. That bartender was hot." Dean said with a smile

"So pretty much you want that girl's number and you're using Cas as an excuse." Sam said rolling his eyes

Dean just chuckled and Castiel himself couldn't even suppress a smile. Spending time with the two brothers was pretty fun. After stopping the Armageddon he decided to stay on Earth with the Winchesters. Most angels didn't want him around as they seen him as a threat because he went against "God's will" He tried staying in heaven but he failed to introduce the idea of free will and decided to watch the Winchesters some more. He had thought maybe if he could learn more about being human he could better show he's brothers and sisters what free will was.

It didn't take long for the Impala to arrive at its destination. The three men got out of the car and headed in. The bar was a term that Dean used "a dive". Castiel wasn't exactly sure what that meant though. It wasn't too far from the motel they were staying at either which was convenient for them.

Cas was never a big fan of bars he found them to be noisy. But they were a key part in understanding humanity. The three of them sat the bar. Dean started chatting up the bartender, Sam ordered his drink.

"One drink and I'm going back to the motel." Sam said

"Wimp." Dean said into his drink as he smiled at the bartender.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dude I got mud in places mud shouldn't be."

Little did they know they were being watched from across the bar.

"So those are the Winchesters?" A woman asked

The man with her nodded. "Yeah the bartender tipped us off about it." He looked their way. "Boss wants the guy in the trench coat."

"So what is he?"

"Rumor has it the Winchesters have a pet angel."

"Angel? You mean like an angel angel?"

The man nodded. "Yeah remember what Chris told us about he's brother getting possessed by one."

She frowned at her glass then looked back over at them. "Hunters running with an angel huh?" She soon noticed them getting up from the bar and heading out. "Come on." And the two of them followed them out.

They watched them drive over to the sleazy motel in their black Impala. "So how we doing this?"

"The angels don't sleep from what we know about them. I've asked around apparently their angel likes to take early morning walks. We'll get him then."

Castiel like all angels had no use for sleep. The only time he did was when he used a lot of his grace and in that last job he didn't. The brothers had long fallen asleep and the early morning hours were approaching. Cas wasn't in the mood to sit around the motel waiting for them to wake up nor did he want to watch a movie. He thought going out would be nice. It was a nice tourist town and he could probably find a park and wait for the sun to come up before they noticed he was gone.

He checked in on the two of them who were both sound asleep. He gave a faint smile and headed out the door.

Castiel eventually found himself at a nice park. He sat on a bench and breathed in the fresh fall air. It was about four in the morning now. He was trying to decide if he should get him some coffee or not when his phone rang. He frowned wondering who it was. Reaching into his pocket he pulled the device to his ear. "Hello?" he asked

Much to his surprise Dean was on the other line. "Cas listen, Sam got grabbed by a ghost or something I need your help. Met me at," Dean then gave him the address.

Castiel put his phone away fast. He knew he had to help the brothers. He concentrated spread his wings and flew to where he was supposed to meet them.

Castiel landed in front of what looked like an empty field. He reached for his phone to call Dean when suddenly a fire lit up around him. He looked around. "Holy fire?"

"Well, well look what the cat dragged in." said a strange voice

Cas looked around him to see a man and woman standing there. "What is this?" He demanded. Narrowing his eyes he glared at the two invaders.

"What is this?" The man before him laughed. He shook his head. "Well that is holy fire and you appear to have been captured." The man walked around the burning circle looking Cas up and down. "Yes the Winchesters pet angel,"

"If you hurt them demon I swear," Cas started then the man laughed.

"Hurt them no not yet anyways. See that was a trick." The demon grinned, "Come help me Cas." The demon said in Dean's voice and grinned a sickening grin. "See now all I need you to do is cooperate and this will go swimmingly."

"I'll never work with a demon." He responded

"Oh I'm not asking for permission." At that time the woman moved before Cas could react she covered his head with a sack that had been enchanted. Cas lost consciousness in a blink of an eye.

Dean awoke about ten. He let out a yawn he looked around too see no one was around. He yawned again and the door opened.

"Hey Dean," said Sam

"Hope you guys have doughnuts and coffee." Dean said raising his head up. "Where's Cas?"

Sam shrugged as he sat down the bag with their breakfast. "Don't know haven't seen him since I got up." He dug through the bag and got his food. "I thought maybe he went out for a walk or something."

Dean rolled his eyes as he got out of bed. He made a quick prayer. "Hey Cas get your feathered butt back here, we have coffee." He picked up a cup of coffee. "And I'm pretty tired I might just drink yours too." He sat at the table and dug out his breakfast. After a few moments of silence Dean tried again. "Yo Cass man your coffee is getting cold." He looked around the room.

Sam frowned. "It usually doesn't take him this long to answer, I'm starting to worry."

"Cas," Dean said in a sing song voice. "We are worrying now."

They both looked around. No Cas.

"I'm calling him." Said Sam pulling our his phone and dialing his number

Dean studied his brother, Sam frowned and sat the phone down. "No answer." Sam sat his phone down. "Now I'm really worried. Usually it doesn't take him this long to answer." As soon as Sam said this Dean's phone rang.

"Yeah." Dean said answering. He shook his head at Sam to inform him it wasn't Cas. Bobby had called Dean.

"Dean I might have a case."

"What type of case?"

"Well it's a weird one, folks been turning up dead or missing in different cities… the thing is their monsters."

"Sounds to me like a hunter is ganking monsters."

"No, see hunters are on monsters trail then suddenly they vanish into thin air. Rumor is… someone is getting monsters to sell for parts for spells and what have ya."

"So what does this have to do with us Bobby? Sounds like someone is helping out kind of."

"Well word on the street is this outfit is looking for an angel. Figured I'd warn you since Cas is about as discreet as a fart in church."

Dean almost dropped his phone. "They are after an angel?" He voice shook

"Yeah why do you sound so freaked out? Just watch your backs and make sure Cas doesn't act so… angel like."

"Bobby Cas is missing." Dean blurted out

"Balls!" Cursed Bobby. "Did you call him and make sure he didn't just I don't know take a flight somewhere."

"He didn't answer his phone." He looked up at Sam and Sam could see the worry in Dean's face.

"Dean what's wrong?" Sam asked

"Bobby said someone is out gunning for an angel to sell… parts." He spat out the last part like it was a piece of bad food.

"Out for an angel? Do you think they got Cas?" Sam asked. He frowned who would want an angel for parts

Bobby interrupted them over the phone. "Listen boys, I'm going to head out your way. We can put our heads together and see if we can find your angel okay." And with that the grizzled veteran hunter hung up his phone.

Dean tossed his phone on the table and buried his head in his hands. How could this happen?

"Dean what do you mean by parts?" Sam asked. He started chewing on his nails a bad habit of his when he was nervous

He shook his head. "Apparently this group goes after monsters to get parts for spells and whatever else sick shit they are doing."

"Cas isn't a monster." Sam interjected. He felt offended for Castiel.

Dean held up his hands. "Bobby knows about this. He's on his way now. In the meantime see if you can get the a bead on his cell phone."

Sam nodded and ran over to his laptop and began to work.

Dean looked up at the ceiling. " _Can you hear me Cas? I hope I want you to know we are going to find you okay."_ He offered in prayer. He clenched his fists who ever had Cas would have hell to pay if they hurt even one feather on his friend. Dean Winchester could promise that.


	2. Chapter 2

Castiel slowly opened his eyes. He found himself in a large room holy oil fire surrounding him. "Where am I?" he asked out loud. He tried to move and realize that his arms were tied to the chair he was sitting in. He tried to move them and was unable to most likely the restraints had sigils on them.

The demon from earlier appeared in front of him. "Hello there Castiel, my name is Alacastor." He gestured around the area. "Welcome to our parlor."

Castiel looked around studying the room. He realized his arms were hand cuffed to a chair with sigil cuffs. "What do you plan on doing to me?"

"You don't waste any time do you?" The demon laughed. "See Castiel or can I call you Cas?" He asked and the angel glared at him. "If looks could kill my angelic friend," The demon grinned. "See my blue eyed friend you have something I want."

"What would that be?" Castiel asked. The demon more than likely was going to torture him for information on the Winchesters. Castiel would never give precious secrets about his friends this demon had the wrong idea.

Alacastor smirked almost as if he knew what the angel was thinking. "Sorry boy I have no interest in the Winchesters. What I want is you." He walked around Castiel as if assessing him. "See I'm a demon on the up and up. When I was a human I dabbled in the black arts and well I have a spell you see," He stopped in front of Castiel. Alacastor expanded his arms as if he was welcoming someone. "A fantastic spell and well it calls for somethings that's been hard to come around in the last few centuries." A donned his sickening grin and leaned forward grabbing Castiel by the jaw. "See the spell calls for the blood of an angel and feathers. Now I know what you're thinking 'but I'm a fallen angel' it doesn't matter, dear one, I just need your celestial blood." The demon looked over to the woman beside him. "This is Ella she's one of the hunters I hired to help capture you. She's going to be helping us today."

The woman named Ella walked over to Castiel. She drew an angel blade out of her jacket. "Hope you don't mind me borrowing this." The young woman walked over to him and behind the chair. She sat a small bowl down and drug the angel blade across Cas's arms.

Cas flinched as the white hot pain surged through his arm. He bit his lip trying not to show pain as the female squeezed his arms to get more blood out.

"Don't worry we won't let you bleed out." She said hate dripping from her voice. "You're far too valuable for that."

"Well since you'll be busy with that. We are going to leave you to it. I'd tell you not to escape but," the demon said with a shrug.

Cas jerked at his bonds. His arms stung from being cut by the angel blade. The blood dripped down his arms making them feel sticky and slick. He wondered if he could free himself if he kept trying. The blood could in theory make it easy for him to get his arms free. He jerked his arms the bonds seemed to only tighten. He tried to summon his grace to heal his sore arms or at least dull the pain but all he felt was a small flicker then nothing. No he couldn't heal himself. Anger boiled up within him for a second until he heard a familiar voice.

"Cas, I know you're in a bad spot but I promise we are coming for you." He heard Dean pray

"Dean." He whispered. He pulled on his bonds again only to feel them tighten even more. Frustrated he hung his head back and said out loud. "Dean I hope you can find me."

Back at the motel, Dean was staring at the table lost in thought.

"So what we know is this group is grabbed Cas." Said Sam as he looked at his laptop, "And no leads." They had traced Castiel's cell to a parking lot in the middle of nowhere. Found it but no angel

Bobby frowned as he sat his phone down. "Well Rufus doesn't know anything." The older hunter frowned and readjusted his hat. "I'm running out of contacts over here."

"If people are buying monster parts for spells you'd think someone would have heard about someone looking for an angel or something." Sam looked at his computer and frowned. "It would be easier if we knew what type of spell they were doing."

"Maybe we are going about this wrong maybe someone grabbed Cas for revenge." Stated Bobby as he flipped through his contact book

"Revenge for what?" Demanded Dean

Sam almost jumped Dean had been sitting there looking lost in thought for so long. Blinking he thought about what Bobby said. "Well he might have a point. Cas isn't exactly winning employee of the year in heaven."

Bobby frowned wondering who he should try next. "Some other hunters aren't real happy you guys are running with an angel." He said

"Like who?" demanded Dean glaring at Bobby

The older man glared at him. "Ain't like I got names you idjit, I just heard from other hunters." He sat down his book. "Listen boys news travels fast in our world you guys know that. About everybody has heard about you guys now. Didja ever think that maybe some other hunter out there would want their own angel?"

Dean glared at him. "Damn it Bobby it's not like that! We don't own him he's our friend he's like… a brother to us."

Sam nodded in agreement. "Yeah besides we don't control Cas. Hell he choose to stay with us it's not like we made him."

"I know that, you guys know that doesn't mean they know that. But," He picked his contact book back up. "Sam might be on to something. If we can figure what type of spell they are trying to do then that might lead us to them."

"Like if they are casting a spell to control Cas or summon and angel?" asked Sam. He closed his laptop getting tried from staring at the screen for hours straight. "But is there even a spell that can do that?"

"No idea." Bobby shrugged in frustration. "The only person who could probably clue us into the spell is the one that's missing."

"There might be someone else though." Sam said

"Oh do you want to share it with the class or are you going to make us guess?" Frustration was clear in Dean's voice.

Sam looked up from his laptop. "Crowley."

"Ugh!" Dean yelled in annoyance. He got up from his chair. "That lying scheming son of a bitch Crowley, you want to ask him?"

"Well," Sam started then looked at his older brother. "Crowley does seem to know a lot about magic plus he did help us out before."

"Yeah to save his own skin." Dean said in a huff. They didn't need to summon that dirt bag they needed to find Cas. He frowned what if Sam was right though

"Dean, Sam has a good point. I mean I ain't exactly in a hurry to deal with his smug ass either but I think this is too big for us. We need help and we got to find Cas fast I don't see a lot of other options here."

Dean frowned. He was worried for his friend. Worried that he was being tortured, hurt and bleeding, maybe even scared. He felt a sharp pain in his head and his arm burned. He reached up and grabbed his arm. A voice called out to him. _"Dean help me."_ He blinked it sounded like Cas. But it couldn't have been he doesn't have angel radio. His arm stopped burning. It must have been the guilt that must have been it. Cas went to hell to save him and returned once more to save Sam from the cage. He knew he had to do whatever possible to save the angel. "Fine let's do it."

Bobby nodded in agreement. "Alright. I'm going to get everything for the summoning." And with that he left.

Sam looked over to his older brother. Dean looked stressed. He knew Dean always felt he had to take on the weight of the world on his own. "Dean," he started very quietly.

The older Winchester looked up at him. "Yeah Sammy,"

"Are you okay?"

Dean let out an annoyed huff. Sam was always trying to psychoanalyze him like he was he's therapist or something. He bite his lip briefly. Was he alright? No, he's best friend was grabbed by who knows what, and who knows what they were doing to him. They had to contact a demon for help and not to mention the weird ass headache he just had. He shook his head shoving his feelings deep inside and said. "Yeah Sam, I'm fine."

Sam glared at him. He can tell his brother is lying. "Dean,"

"Sam don't, we don't have for this crap, okay. We need to find Cas." He got up from the chair he was sitting in. He marched to the bathroom hoping he could clear his mind with cold water. He turned on the sink and splashed water on his face. His arm began to burn again. He reached out and touched it. _"Help me!"_ Dean gasped it was like the air was sucked out of his lungs. He clung to the sink. Seriously was he so worried he was hearing Cas's voice?

"Dean?" Sam called sounding worried

"It's fine Sammy." He responded.

About that time Bobby came back in the motel room. "Okay it pains me to say this but let's summon a demon."

Castiel tried again to free himself with no luck. The wounds were stinging badly. He feared blood loss or even a possible infection if the wounds weren't dealt with soon. The sigils on the bonds were slowly draining his grace. He tried to clear his mind as anger and panic swelled within. He knew the Winchesters were coming for him. He knew there had to be some way he could reach out to them. He's grace was getting depleted though. He had tried twice to call for help and each time just drained his grace. He was unsure if Dean could even hear his calls for help. Anger and frustration took over and he let out a scream.

"My, my young angel,"

Castiel looked up to see the demon Alacastor walking up to him followed by the human Ella and a man.

Alacastor looked over his shoulder at one of the humans. "Do me a favor stop the angel's bleeding. We don't want him to bleed to death."

The young man nodded and headed over behind Castiel.

Castiel could feel the bandages being applied to his sore arms. He looked up at the demon. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Alacastor smirked. It was the most vile and evil smirk Castiel had seen a demon were before. "Just a little spell work my friend. You like helping people don't you? Bring me his blood."

The woman picked up the bowl and brought it to the demon. The demon poured the blood into a jar but left some in the bowl. He waved his hand over it and chanted a few magical words.

Castiel felt shearing pain at his back near his wings. He tried to contain a scream but failed. The lights around them flicked and two of them bust. He felt like he was on fire like something was ripped from his very being.

"Stop screaming." Said Alacastor. Smirking again he clearly was enjoying this. The demon took an appraisal of the humans working with him. "Ella, Chris are you two still breathing."

Ella rubbed her ears and frowned. "My ears are ringing but I'm good. He broke his bonds though is that okay?"

"This spell will render him useless for a while. Plus we have sigils on the chair he isn't going to be at full power for some time."

The human named Chris shook his head. "I got hit with one but I think I'm okay."

Castiel shook his head trying to get his brain to focus. He didn't know what type of spell hit him all he knew was that he was in pain. He felt something touch his wings. Wait wings, those should be on the other plane. He looked over his shoulder and saw that his wings were out.

"Yes it's a nice little spell I have." Said Alacastor, "Okay kids get as many feathers as you can." The demon disappeared right after he finished that sentence.

Castiel glanced around and seen the humans picking up all the feathers that were on the ground. "You humans are making a grave mistake."

"Is that a threat?" asked Chris

"Alacastor is a demon. Demons are not to be trusted. Whatever he offered it's at the cost of your soul."

The two humans laughed. "Yeah because you angels are so trust worthy." responded Ella

"Please, if you let me go I can," but Castiel was interrupted.

"We don't have enough feathers. We need to pluck some." Said Chris

"Don't do this you're making a mistake." Castiel said. Next thing he knew he felt shearing pain in his wings. He tried to pull them away from them and Ella grabbed ahold of one.

"Hold still damn it!" she yelled

Castiel kept trying to get his wings away from the humans. The pain was unbearable. He let out another scream. He had to get ahold of the Winchesters somehow. "Dean! Sam!" He screamed.

"Scream all you want angel they won't come for you." Said Chris with a sick laugh

It would take almost all his grace but he had to try again he had to reach out to his friends. He dug deep into his soul finding the part of his grace that was a part of him and Dean's profound bond. Surely he could use this surely it could help. He closed his mind trying to ignore the pain and reached out as far as he could to him.

The Winchester brothers had just wrapped up the summoning spell.

Standing in the room now was Crowley. "Oh hello boys, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The demon looked around the room. "Where's feathers flown off to?"

"We need your help." Sam said

Crowley raised an eyebrow. "You need my help?" he scoffed. "Why don't you ask your angel for help?" He looked at the two of them. "Or is this what this is about." He chuckled, "Loose your feathered lover?"

Dean felt his anger boil. "Damn it Crowley now isn't the time for your shit"

"Dean," Sam said resting his hand on his brother's shoulder. He knew calming him down would be the best course. Taking anger and frustration on Crowley probably wasn't the best move at the moment. "Cas has been taken by someone. We don't know who exactly but we know they want him for a spell we think."

The King of Hell gave an indifferent shrug. "And what exactly does that have to do with me? It's not exactly like I care about your angelic friend or even you lot."

"Maybe we can make a deal," Sam started

"Sam no!" yelled Dean

Bobby shook his head. "Yeah I'm not exactly in the mood for deal making."

Crowley titled his head. "So the 'family' wants their baby angel back but doesn't want to deal. Sorry boys I don't exactly do things out of the kindness of my heart. So either pray harder or find something to offer me."

Dean's anger reached a breaking point. "You rotten son of a bitch!" Dean screamed. Both Sam and Bobby called out to him when he felt pain in his arm like before. He reached up and grabbed his arm his vision blackened and next thing he knew he was falling backwards.

Sam screaming out his name was the last thing he heard.

 _"Can you hear me?"_

 _The darkness around him wavered and Dean found himself standing in a room of complete whiteness. "Where am I?" He asked himself looking around. Nothing made any sense. He started to wonder if he's heart gave out when he got mad at Crowley and he had died._

 _"Can you hear me?"_

 _Dean blinked. That voice sounded like Cas. "Cas is that you?"_

 _"I don't have long to talk my grace is weakening. Dean I need your help."_

 _"I know that. Where are you? Why can't I see you?"_

 _"I'm using our profound bond to talk to you." The angel said appearing before Dean_

 _"Profound bond? I thought that was angel for best friend." Dean smiled at his own joke and was happy to see his friend._

 _The angel crossed the vacant room quickly. "No time to explain." He laid his hand on Dean's fore head._

 _Dean felt a flash of pain he cried out and everything went dark._

Dean slowly opened his eyes. He realized he was looking up at the ceiling of the motel. Pain throbbed through his head so bad that he thought his head was going to explode. He greeted his teeth he found himself panting. Sweat was dripping off of his forehead. "What did you do?" he heard Sam. Shaking his head as the lingering head ache kept pounding like someone with a jack hammer was in his head. Dean slowly sat up. He seen Bobby had the demon killing knife pointed at Crowley and The King of Hell was looking down at Dean with a smirk.

"It wasn't me and maybe you should check on him." Crowley said as he pointed at Dean.

"Dean!" Sam cheered running over to his brother. He helped him off the floor. "What happened?"

Dean shook his head the traces of the pain fading but his arm throbbed. "It was Cas he… contacted me. Somehow he…" He pointed at his head. "Tuned me into his angel signal… I know where he is and… someone named Alacastor has him."

Crowley's face paled. "Hold on did you say that he said he was captured by Alacastor?"

Dean nodded. He looked at Sam. "We got move quick before I lose his signal."

"You should rest first, and," He looked at Crowley, "Find out who exactly Alacastor is."

"No time Sammy!" Dean shouted pushing himself away from his brother. He stumbled over to the table and grabbed up his bags

Sam looked at Crowley. "Who is Alacastor?"

Crowley frowned. "A demon, he took over my spot as the king of the crossroads."

"We need to go!" Dean shouted running out the door.

Crowley frowned. He knew he had to get in on this Alacastor deal. He knew he should have dealt with that sorry sack of dog excrement when he had the chance. "Moose let me come along with you." He addressed Sam

Sam frowned as he picked up his gear and looked at Bobby.

The older hunter looked at him and then at Crowley. "Really Sam?"

"Extra help can't hurt. Come on Crowley."

The three of them walked out to the Impala.

"Really?" Dean shouted from the car seeing the demon

The three got in the car. Sam sighed. "We can use the back up." Sam said

Dean looked back at Crowley. "You screw us over I'll gank you so damn fast you won't even know what happened." He said as he started the car

"Don't worry squirrel. You want your angel I want Alacastor they just happen to be in the same place."

"I don't like this." Dean muttered to himself

Sam looked out the window. He hoped they found Cas and soon. He watched the sun slowly disappear behind the trees. _Cas I hope you're okay._ He thought the silent prayer as they drove away from town and off to save the angel.


	3. Chapter 3

Castiel felt like his body was on fire. The humans finally stopped pulling the feathers from his wings. The searing pain still didn't let up however. "Listen to me, whatever Alacastor has promised you it's a lie."

"Shut up monster!" yelled Ella

The angel hissed in pain. "I don't know what the demon has told you but I am not a monster."

Ella rolled her eyes. "Sure you're not a monster, says the man who just blew out all the lights, and almost made us deaf." She laughed to herself and looked over at Chris.

"You angels claim to be on the side of right, side of justice but your kind is no different than demons. You take over a body and use it as your own." Said Chris, hatred dripped from the young man's voice.

Castiel looked up at the man frowning. "I am nothing like a demon."

"Bull shit!" Ella shouted. "Your kind ruins family!" Ella stomped around him glaring at him. "One of your kind ruined our life. They took over our brother. Told him once he was done he would be free! And that's not what happened! Our brother was killed because he was hosting an angel."

"I am sorry for your loss,"

"Sorry? Oh yeah I'm sure you're really sorry. You monsters don't feel anything! You don't even know what sorry is!" yelled Chris

Ella marched up to Castiel. "Did you consider the family you ruined? That vessel had a life then you took it from him."

"He was a devout man he agreed to this." Castiel said.

"I'm sure you tricked him like all the other angels do." Said Chris

Alacastor entered the room. "Okay you got everything from him?"

"Yes." Said Ella holding up a bag of feathers

"Good we need to get out of here." He eagerly took the bag of feathers. "The Winchesters are probably on their way." He dug out a feather and smirked at it.

"We are just going to leave him for them to get?" Chris asked

Alacastor smirked again staring at the feather. "They aren't any concern of ours, come let's go."

The three of them left leaving Castiel there. The pain was still coursing through his body. The humans' words kept plaguing him. Was he really no different than demons? He frowned; he did take Jimmy Novak's body. He took a lot from him, his future his family, the man's soul was able to go to heaven when Castiel was killed by the archangel, but at what cost. Jimmy didn't get to see his daughter grow up, didn't get to live out his life with his wife. Castiel bite his lip guilt swelling up in his soul. He groaned his grace was weak from contacting Dean. He knew the hunters were on their way but he worried about Alacastor already seeming to know they were coming. He stood from his chair. His legs felt like jelly from sitting for so long.

The holy oil blaze still burned occasionally lapping up at the end of his already sore wings. Tired as he might he couldn't get his wings back into the ethereal plane. He folded the black feathered wings close to his body as he could and looked around. He worried the demon and his human help had set a trap for the Winchesters. He's body ached again. He tried to move around the small area trying to work the soreness out of his legs. Fire licked at the bottom of his coat. He figured the bottom of it was burnt. Great. Not that the coat was a big concern but he had grown fond of it.

He heard a door open from above. He's heart leapt was it help? Did Dean finally come to help? "Help!" he cried out his voice almost cracking from the screaming he did earlier. His body ached fighting against itself wanting to collapse. No he couldn't the fire would eat him alive. "Dean!" He screamed his voice horse. His legs were giving out and he dropped to his knees. He's sore arms, and searing wings it was like his own body was waging war against him. "Help." It was the most pathetic sound he ever heard. If he wasn't in such bad shape he would embarrassed.

"Cas?" a familiar gruff voice called

He looked up. "Dean!" He cried. Just then the door in front of him swung open with a thud.

Just then Dean, Sam, Bobby and for some reason Crowley poured into the room.

"Dean!" He cried again as said Winchester ran to him along with Sam

"Don't worry we'll get you out." Said Dean confidently as the two of them tried to stomp out the fire

"You alone in here?" Bobby asked he held his gun steadily surveying the room

"I don't know." Castiel said his voice cracking.

"Shhh it's okay." Dean said with a soothing voice sensing Castiel's distress

"There was a demon and two humans that's all I know of. They said they were leaving though."

"I'm going to do a once over." Said Bobby

"I'm going to see if I can find Alacastor." Said Crowley. Or at least figure out what he was planning.

"Why are you here?" Asked Castiel, he worked hard to make his voice not quiver when he talked to the demon. He would not give another one of Hell's creature the satisfaction.

"Alacastor, the snot nosed little shit should know better." the demon frowned then looked at the angel. "Boy you look like hell mate." The demon walked over to them

Castiel glared daggers at him. "You would know one of your men did this to me."

The King of Hell scoffed and shook his head. "Got the wrong idea feathers," He gestured to the room. "Not one of my ideas. I'm here to stop him I had nothing to do with this."

"You don't know what he's doing either?" The angel asked.

The demon frowned. "No I do not. I certainly would like to know what he is doing just like the rest of you." And with that the King of Hell walked off

Sam and Dean finally got the fire out. Sam looked at the bottom of Castiel's coat. "You're coat got burnt."

Castiel nodded. "It is a shame I grew rather fond of that thing." He's body still ached.

Dean reached out and laid a hand on the angel's arm.

Not being able to hold it in the man cried out in pain.

Dean jerked his hand away. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said fast. He assessed the angel quickly without touching. He's arms were bloody no doubt they cut him, he's face looked bruised probably hit during the capture, and his wings… wait his wings. Dean's eyes fell on the angel's black wings. "Wings?" He asked more so than stated

Castiel shuddered in pain biting back tears he said. "Alacastor did a spell and it made them appear. I haven't been able to return them to the ethereal plane since."

Sam looked up at Dean. "We got to get him out of here Dean. He's in bad shape."

Dean nodded. He reached over to the angel again. The angel started backing away from him fear was in his eyes. "Shhh Cas it's okay. I didn't mean to hurt you earlier just relax."

The angel nodded. Tears were building in his eyes. "I'm glad… I'm glad you came to save me." He bit his lower lip trying not to cry. "It took most of my energy to summon you."

Dean fought his own tears. Seeing his best friend hurt like this hurt him more than anything. He uttered soothing words as he gingerly rested his hand on Cas. The angel leaned into as the eldest Winchester tried to hug him without causing pain. "Of course we came to save you why wouldn't we?"

Sam looked at Castiel. "What hurts the most?" He asked gently. He reached out to his arms and was trying to assess the damage.

"It all hurts." Castiel whimpered.

Sam looked over at Dean. "We have to get him out. These wounds are bad."

"Can you not heal yourself?" Dean asked the angel breaking from the hug

The angel shook his head. "I can't spare anymore grace my 'batteries' are low."

"Can you walk?" asked Sam

"I can try."

The two Winchesters helped the angel up who was leaning into them for support.

"Let's get Bobby and go." Said Dean

About that time Bobby came back. "Place is clean can't even tell there's been anyone here." The older hunter looked at the angel. "Jesus, looks like they put him through the wringer."

Crowley reappeared as well. "Not a damn thing in this hell whole. Looks like Alacastor has a hell of a cleanup team. This was the only thing I found." He said holding up a black feather. "I assume it's yours."

Dean snatched the black feather from Crowley. "Okay we're done here. We didn't find your man, now go."

The king of hell smirked. "Oh I see how it is. Have me help you on a raid then kick me out once it's over." He looked over at the angel again. "You really should help your friend." He said almost like an omen then vanished

Castiel's body had a flash of pain and he's body titled slightly.

"We need to go." Said Sam adjusting his weight to hold up the angel

The four man headed to the Impala. Bobby kept his gun raised as they walked through assuring that no one had entered the place since they left.

Castiel looked around the vacant halls and soon noticed they were in an old abandoned factory. He's hands ached from being burned and it felt like it was travelling up his arms which were sore from the bloodletting, his wings ached from being drawn into this world and plucked. An angels' wings where the most sensitive part of their being. Castiel tried to move them hoping maybe he could fly to safety so he didn't have to rely on the Winchesters. He bit his lips again feeling pain coursing through them. More than likely he split his lip from repeatedly biting them.

"Don't try to move." said Dean. The oldest Winchester was having a hard time supporting his friend. He adjusted Castiel's weight and then said, "We are almost out of here." Much to his alarm he felt something warm and wet drip on his arm. He looked to the angel and realized that his wounds on his arm reopened. "Shit!" He yelled, "Sammy stop."

Sam stopped, "What is it?"

"He's arm reopened."

"We're almost to the car. We can fix him up there who ever had him could come back anytime." Sam said. He's voice filled with worry and he looked around the room almost like he was expecting someone or something to arrive

"Sam's right Dean, we got to go." Bobby said

Dean looked at his celestial friend. "Are you going to be okay, Cas?" he asked. He took out his bandanna that he kept on himself to help with injuries. He wrapped it as tight as he could around the arm.

Castiel let out a sudden cry at the cloth that tightened around his arm. "I think so." He's voice sounded so weak. He questioned if he really was alright. Before the angel could self-reflect any further he realized they were outside. Once he laid eyes on the Impala he felt his spirits lift. He knew that he was not dreaming that he was finally free and among friends.

"Let's get him in the back. Sam you drive." Dean said as he handed his brother his keys.

Sam looked at him and arched his eye brow as Dean got in the back with Castiel. Sam got in the driver's side and Bobby got in the passenger's side. Starting the car Sam began his drive back to the motel they were staying at. "Just hang on Cas we'll be there in no time!" Sam proclaimed noting how pale the angel looked.

Dean in the meantime tried to tighten the wrapping on his wounds. He was watching in horror his friend's grow pale. He looked over the arms again he had stopped the bleeding. "How are feeling, Cas?"

"Dean it hurts." Castiel all but cried. Out of reflex he tried to pull away from Dean and nearly hit him with a wing.

Dean frowned at him. "Calm down damn it! I know it hurts but you can't be thrashing around you're going to make it worse!" Yelled Dean

"Both you idjits stop!" Bobby yelled turning and looking at them.

"We're almost there." Sam said trying to reassure everyone as he turned the car down the street. They were pretty close to the motel now. He was grateful that it was night time and pretty late now. He frowned wondering about getting Cas out of the car especially with his wings out.

Dean finished his examination and made a mental note on what they needed to help the angel. He hoped that the arm healed themselves once his grace was fully powered after a little help. They couldn't exactly take him to the ER with two big black wings hanging out. What on Earth would they tell them he was a run-away Victoria Secret model? Smiling at his own musings he almost didn't notice they had made it to the motel.

"We made it." Sam said.

Dean and Sam got out and rushed over to the side Castiel was at. Helping the angel out of the car Sam said. "Dude you do not look good."

The angel looked up his eyes almost half closed. He figured if he looked as awful as he felt then he looked pretty rough. "I feel awful." He half whispered. He realized that the two Winchesters were holding him up again as they headed to the motel. The two were trying to stand in such a way that they could support him and hide his wings.

Bobby opened the door to the motel room and the two placed Castiel on the bed. Bobby came back with a first aid kit.

Castiel could feel his conscious draining. Dark spots clouded his vision he just wanted to rest.

Dean removed the wrapping on Castiel's arms. "This isn't going to pleasant." He spoke softly placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Castiel nodded. "I know." Pain shot through his arm as he poured some liquid on the wounds. He hissed in pain as he seen pass the bottle over to Sam as he did the same on the other arm. The two began sewing up his wounds. He wished his grace was strong enough to heal himself because this was indeed a painful process. He gripped the sheets on the bed trying to keep his cries in pain to a dull roar. Finally they finished his arms.

Dean looked at his hands. "Okay now that you won't bleed to death your wings."

Sam handed Castiel the bottle of booze they were using to clean his wounds. "Take a drink."

Castiel took it and gave it a big swig. Being an angel it took him almost a whole liquor store to get drunk but he appreciated the idea now. He felt a slight buzz as the alcohol worked its way through his system. "Please be careful they are very… sensitive to an angel."

"As careful as I can." Said Dean as he placed the rag on one sore looking spot.

Castiel yelled out and flapped his wing hitting Dean and nearly getting Sam.

"Don't do that!" Dean yelled. He knew it probably hurt but how were they supposed to help him if he kept moving.

"Maybe you shouldn't touch them." He folded his wings across himself. "They will heal once my grace has regained its strength."

The brothers looked at each other. Dean frowned. "Well don't come crying to us if it gets worse."

Sam shot his brother a dirty look then looked back at the angel. "If that's what you want Cas that's fine."

"You should get some rest." Dean said his annoyance replaced by concern. "We'll figure this all out in the morning."

Castiel nodded. Angels typically don't sleep unless a large amount of grace has been used. Usually his replenishes itself fast so he figured he'd just be asleep for a few hours. He could feel himself drifting off as they spoke to him.

Dean gave him a small hug. "Good night buddy sleep well."

Sam hugged him as well. "Get some rest okay."

The two left him and Castiel laid on the pillows and drifted off into sleep. He's limbs not as sore as they wore. He wrapped his wings tightly around himself so they would not get in the way of his rest. He drifted into a restful sleep glad that the brothers had found him in time. Yes tomorrow once he was at full strength they could process what happened. Tomorrow Castiel would find his answers.


	4. Chapter 4

Castiel woke up. He's body was stiff and sore. He let out a soft groan as he stretched his body.

"How you feeling, Cas?" Dean called

Castiel turned his head to see the Winchester brothers sitting at a little kitchen area in the back of the room. "Morning." He grumbled as he climbed out of bed. He walked over to them and stretched again. "I feel okay other than stiff." He noticed the two of them staring at his wings. "Sorry." He said sending them to the ethereal plane. He sat at the table then he stretched and yawned. "How long was I asleep?"

Dean chuckled. "A whole day."

Castiel looked shocked. "Oh… guess my ordeal must have drained more of my grace than I thought."

Sam offered Castiel a cup of coffee.

"Thank you," he took the cup, "Have you heard anything about Alacastor since I was… asleep." Castiel knew that his grace needed to be recharged but he was still ashamed he slept for that long.

Dean shook his head. "Nope, not a peep. I called Crowley he doesn't know anything either. But he's supposed to keep in touch."

"You really trust that demon?"

"Hell no. But I figure he's looking for him and so are we so why not 'work' together."

Sam added in. "We haven't learned anything about the spell either." He rubbed the back of his head. "Us and Bobby have been researching for spells that call for angel feathers and nothing has come up."

Castiel furrowed his brow. "There are several spells that call for angel feathers. Typically its powerful magic." He picked up his coffee.

"Well someone has to know about it." Sam said

"I think our best chance is to find those hunters that were with him." The angel said

"Yeah Bobby wanted to know if you caught their names?" Dean asked

"Ella and Chris. They were related…" He frowned

"What's wrong?" Dean asked

The angel shook his head. "Apparently… one of their family members was used as a vessel... and they died."

Dean shrugged. "Not your fault man."

"Yeah Cas that was someone else." Sam said

Castiel frowned and rested his elbows on the table. "I know but…" He shook he's head. "They called me a monster." He's voice sounded sad as he said that

"Oh Cas," Dean said sounding pained. He rested he's hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're not a monster."

"Yeah Cas, don't' worry about them they don't know you." Sam said. He patted angel's arm. "I'm going to call Bobby and tell him the names of those hunters." He got up from the table and walked outside the motel room.

"Dean," Castiel started. "Thank you… thank you for everything."

Dean gave a faint smile. "Of course man. You're my friend." He looked over Castiel's arms. "You good? Or is it still healing?" He asked gesturing to his arms

Castiel looked over his arms. "Still healing some. They don't hurt as bad as I thought they would."

Sam came back in the room. "Bobby said he's going to call around and see what he can learn. He also has a case for us."

"Case?" Dean asked looking up at him

He nodded. "The next town over there's apparently a haunting at a library. No vengeful spirit yet but someone called Bobby to look into it."

"Sounds like an easy job." Dean got up from the table. "Let's go."

The three of them were in the next town over. Dean eased the Impala in a parking spot at the front of the library.

"So this librarian knows Bobby?" Dean asked as he turned off the car

Sam nodded. "Yeah apparently he saved her several years back from a Windingo."

Dean chuckled. "Well hopefully she actually has a ghost and isn't just looking to see Bobby." Dean said as they got out of the car.

"Are we going to be the 'FBI' again?" Castiel asked. He even used air quotes for the term FBI

Dean rolled his eyes. "Stop it with the air quotes man."

"No Cas we are just going to be us since this lady already knows Bobby." Sam said then added. "Just no telling her you're an angel okay."

Castiel tilted his head. "If we are being ourselves why would I hide that I'm an angel."

Both brothers sighed. Dean patted him on the shoulder. "No not today we'll go by your other title hunter in training."

The three of them walked into the library. For a small town they had a large library. They made it up to the desk and an older woman was sitting behind there looking at her computer.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked not even looking up from her screen

Sam spotted her name bandage and realized she was the lady that Bobby had gotten the call from. "Uh Bobby Singer sent us."

That time she looked up at them. She looked over her glasses reminding Dean of a teacher he had in elementary school. She looked the three of them up and down like she was assessing them. She grinned a smile that made Sam nervous. "Well…" She said pushing away from her desk and standing up. "I asked for Bobby and I'm liking what I got instead." She looked Sam up and down again.

Castiel leaned over to Dean and asked. "Why is this lady staring at us like she's going to eat Sam?"

Dean laughed and whispered. "Because she would."

"Shouldn't we help?"

Dean patted him on the back and could tell Sam rolled his eyes at them even though he was faced away from them.

"Yes uh, Debbie. Bobby sent us to help with your ghost problem." Sam said smiling politely

"Three of y'all though?" She took her glasses off and shook her head.

"Please can you tell us more about it?" Sam asked

"Not much. Just at night the ghost tosses books around. I come in the morning and half the books are on the floor." She waved her hand around the library. "This is a big place and it's a pain to clean it all up every day."

Dean smirked. "Sure it's a ghost and not some kids coming in and getting wild.

"Well the first time I thought it was a prank. Teenagers you know, they have no use for books now that they can get everything on their phones." She pointed to a camera. "However unless they can turn invisible that ain't possible. We checked the cameras and all we see are books flying off the shelf."

Sam nodded. "Okay we'll take care of it. Can we come back tonight and see what's going on."

Debbie nodded and handed them a key. "Just lock up after yourselves. I'll delete the photogate in the morning so no one will know you just got in."

"Thanks."

The three of them headed back to the car. Dean went on a hunt for a motel. "Seems like a pretty easy case. I could have stayed home." He said with a laugh

"Yeah I guess it isn't much." Sam said. He turned the key over a few times in his hand. "Guess we'll stop this ghost before it gets started."

Dean spotted a motel and a dive bar across the street from it. It wouldn't be long until the library closed and it would be night. "I got an idea. I'm going to hit the bar and you take out the ghost."

"Really Dean you're going to go to a bar while a hunt is going on?" Sam retorted

Dean rolled his eyes. "For goodness sake it's a ghost messing up shelves at a library. This job is cake. Take Cas and we'll call it training."

Sam frowned at him. The three of them got out of the car and unloaded everything in the motel.

Sam packed their gear for the hunt. They had already taken Castiel on a ghost hunt before so this was nothing new to the angel. Once they were ready and night fell the two of them headed to the library in the Impala.

The two of them made it to the library. The headed on in and Sam was glad the librarian had given him a key. This made things a lot easier.

"Now Cas it might take a while before the spirit is active. As you know we need to find what is tying them to this place." Sam said as he pulled out his shot gun loaded with rock salt. He tossed Castiel the other gun.

Castiel frowned at the gun. "This is unnecessary Sam I simply can take care of the ghost with my powers."

Sam nodded. "I know but you never know there may come a time when you can't use them."

The angel frowned. Sam had a point there was always a time when he's grace could become so used he wouldn't be able to use his powers. He knew that eventually that day will come ever since he left heaven. One day he'll be useless.

"I didn't mean anything about it." Said Sam as he seen how crestfallen Castiel's face had become. "We just need to be prepared. Especially if you are going to stay with me and Dean."

Castiel nodded. He had no intentions of leaving the Winchesters. He needed to learn what he could to be able to defend himself.

"You remember how to use the gun right?"

He nodded. "Yes Dean showed me."

Sam chuckled. "Well Dean is good for some things."

Castiel tilted his head. "Are you upset with Dean over going to the bar?"

He shook his head. "No I mean I don't know." He gestured to the angel. "He was all into teaching you the trade then today he's not… we don't even know anything else about that spell that was cast on you either."

"You don't trust me?" Castiel asked. He could understand that. They didn't have any information on the spell that Alacastor had used on him or how it will affect him.

Sam went to speak when suddenly a book flew off the shelf. "Look out!" He yelled. He turned to the shelf peppering it with rock salt. The ghost screamed and vanished. The ghost looked like an old librarian.

 _"Leave my book alone!"_ The ghost called

"It must be attached to a book!" Sam exclaimed. Now with that information he wondered what book it was.

The ghost suddenly reappeared behind him. "Sam look out!" Castiel yelled as the ghost tossed the youngest Winchester into the book shelf. It charged at Castiel on instinct he reached out and summoned his grace and smite the ghost. He ran over to Sam. "Are you okay?" He asked helping him out of the book shelf.

"Yeah I'm fine. What about you?" Sam asked as he took his hand and let him help him up.

"I took care of the spirit." As soon as he said that he felt a burning sensation in his grace. "Ugh!" He cried out. He doubled over as soon as the white hot pain started.

Sam grabbed onto him trying to hold him up. "Cas was wrong?"

"It hurts." He said through gritted teeth

"What hurts?"

"My grace we… you need to get me back to the motel I think."

Sam was worried about his friend. He helped the angel to the car and helped him get in. He took off back to the motel. He'd call Dean once he got there.

Dean on the other hand was at a nearby bar. There wasn't a lot of people there and even less women so Dean wrote off getting lucky tonight. He sat at the bar and smiled at the waitress as she took his order. He's drink was in front of him before he knew it.

"Hello Dean."

He turned to look and see Crowley sitting beside him. "Crowley to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked in a snarky tone

The demon waved to the bartender and ordered his own drink. "Thought I would give you an update on my progress," He took the drink and smiled at the woman. "I haven't found Alacastor yet. But I might have an idea on the spell he used." He took out an old folded piece of parchment paper. "There's lots of spells that call for angel feathers and blood." He pointed at one spell. "This one is a nasty piece of business. You see it makes creatures revel their true selves. Use it on a vamp then fangs, on a demon you get black eyes and on an angel."

"Wings." Dean stated as he took a drink. "So what does this have to do with Cas?"

Crowley frowned. "This spell doesn't seem to do harm it actually wears off after a while. It's the one that's with it that might be a problem. See these spells are in a set they haven't been used in ages. Rumor has it; it was created to harvest creatures." He's figure pointed to the spell after that. "This one is to control harvested creatures." Then the next spell, "And this one is the nastiest of the bunch after harvesting a set number of creatures this one can… let you control any and all creatures."

Dean almost choked on his drink. "What? There's spells like that?"

"This is pre-hunter spells. More than likely they were created to defend some small city state somewhere. Lost to the ages they were." He said with a smirk

"Let me guess demons heard about it and took the stuff so it couldn't be used on them."

The King of Hell smiled. "And here I thought it was hidden pretty good, Alacastor must have found it. Shows you I should be more careful as to whom I let clean the archives."

"You guys didn't think to destroy this thing?"

He shook his head. "No I mean we could use it ourselves… I actually didn't know about it until today. It was hidden pretty well. Nasty bit of spell work. Where is feathers anyways?"

"On a hunt with Sam." Panic shot through Dean. "Wait the control spell."

Crowley shrugged. "If you're lucky Alacastor didn't use it. For all I know he just got the harvest spell and went into monster harvesting."

"Yeah but if he did my brother is alone with Cas right now." Dean reached to his phone when it rang. He saw Sam's name pop up and he felt a pit grow in his stomach. "Sammy what's up?" He asked as he answered

"Dean! There's something wrong with Cas. He started having pain after we ganked the ghost. I took him back to the motel and…"

Dean heard silence on the other end. "Sam?" he asked the feeling of dread worsened. He couldn't hear him completely he heard Sam speak.

"Cas don't get up." It was faint like Sam had turned from the phone.

Dean laid his money on the bar for his drinks and started to get up. He had to get to Sam and Cas and fast. He kept the phone to his ear barely noticing the King of Hell following him out of the bar. "Sam." Dean said again. Then after that the sound he heard sent him into a sprint back to the hotel. He's brother screaming and yelling: Cas no don't.

Dean charged to the motel as fast as he could grateful the two were close. Crowley was standing by the Impala and Dean looked at him.

"Demon remember who needs to run when you can teleport." Crowley said

Dean stormed into the motel room almost ripping the door down. The sight before him would be one he won't soon forget. Castiel stood over a bloody Sam holding him by his shirt. Sam had his hands up trying to defend himself.

"Cas?" Dean asked. The angel looked up at him. His normal vibrant blue eyes were dull and wild looking almost like a wild animal. "Don't," He looked at his brother. "Don't hurt Sam."

Castiel looked down at Sam and let go of his shirt making the younger hunter hit the ground with a thud. The angel started to walk towards Dean

Dean held his hands up. "Wait Cas don't!" He yelled. He backed away from him and into a wall

Castiel balled up his fist and let out a growl like a wounded animal.

"Castiel don't please!" Dean screamed bracing for the beating of his life. Castiel had beat him pretty bad back when he thought about being Michael's vessel so he knew it would hurt. But he wasn't hit instead he heard.

"Dean? What happened?"

Dean lowered his arms and looked at Castiel. The angel was standing there looking confused. "Cas is that you in there?"

The angel frowned. "I think so I…" he looked over at Sam. "Sam!" he yelled he ran over to the youngest Winchester.

"No don't!" Sam cried out. Castiel laid his hand on his forehead healing up the damage he had just done.

Castiel stood up and looked around. "I'm sorry I wasn't myself."

Crowley stepped into the room about that time. "I see Alacastor does want you boys dead." He looked at Castiel. "Had to wait outside you see didn't know if you had your blade."

The angel frowned again and looked at his hands. "I hurt Sam."

Dean reached up and took Castiel's hands. "No, no you didn't that bastard Alacastor made you hurt Sam."

The angel looked at Sam and noticed that the young man flinched. Castiel shook his head. "I can't its… it's not safe to be around me." He pushed Dean away from him and with a flutter of wings he was gone.

"Cas!" Dean called. "Damn it Cas!" Dean looked around then made his way to Sam and helped him off the floor. "The hell happened?"

"I don't know. I put him to bed when I got back and when I called you he got up and went after me." Sam shook his head then felt his face checking for damage. "Dude he tried to beat me to death."

Dean frowned. He was worried about Cas and he wasn't happy that Sam got hurt. He looked up at Crowley. "Any way to reverse the spell?"

"Well there's a few; you could kill feathers,"

"No!" Dean shouted. He glared at the demon. "We ain't killing Cas."

Crowley rolled his eyes. "See that's the easy way. You can kill Alacastor. But we got to find him first or the last one… you can put Cas under you're control."

"We are killing Alacastor." Dean said

"Suit yourself then. If you decide to change your mind you have my number and I have yours." Crowley said then vanished

Dean looked over at Sam. "We got to find Cas."

Sam nodded in agreement. "Yeah before he hurts someone else." Dean didn't like Sam's tone. He narrowed his eyes at his brother but kept his mouth shut.

Dean fished out his phone to call Bobby and tell him what happened. They were going to make a trip to Bobby's at times like this he needed to depend on his father figure to help him work through all this.

Castiel stood on a hill overlooking the town. He hated leaving them like that but it was the best course of action he could think of. He couldn't risk losing it again and hurting or worse yet killing one of them. He frowned he could hear Dean's prayer his longing for him to return to them to him. Castiel frowned and balled his fists. "I'm sorry Dean I can't come back and risk hurting you." The angel realized something very fast he had to find Alacastor and kill him to reverse the spell. He couldn't pick up on demons like he could humans. He let out a small sigh and concentrated and searched for the humans that were helping the demon. Finding his answer he went to track them down. He felt Dean's prayer again begging for his return offering forgiveness. The angel smiled to himself. He felt guilty for leaving but he knew it was for the best. He spread his wings that were invisible to the naked eye and took off. He would take care of this himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Blood and Feathers

It had been a few days since the Winchesters had last heard from Castiel. Dean walked the floor beer in his hand. He was worried sick for his angelic friend. He would never admit it out loud. He had called the angel several times now, left him voice mails, and texts. He had lost track of how many times he has prayed to Cas hoping he would return to them. He sat down on the couch.

They were staying at Bobby's place since Cas vanished. This was Dean's safe zone staying at his surrogate father's place.

"Dean," Sam started as he walked into the room.

"If you ask me again if I'm okay," Dean said. He looked up at his younger brother annoyance in his face.

Sam shook his head. "No. Because I know you're not okay." He sat beside him beer in his own hand. "But we can't just sit around waiting for Cas to come back. We should get out there and find Alacastor, or a case or something."

Dean nodded. "I know Sam." He gripped his beer bottle tightly.

Sam patted his arm. "I know you miss Cas. I miss Cas too okay Dean. But we can't just sit around and drink."

Dean went to speak again when suddenly there was a whoosh of air. Dean looked up to see Cas standing there. "Cas?" He breathed. He almost dropped the beer. He jumped up from the couch and ran up to his friend.

Castiel looked rough, his coat hung off his shoulders, his tie was undone, and he had speaks of blood on him. "Dean?" He practically cried. He held out his hands that were coated in blood.

"What happened buddy?" Dean asked. He took his hands and checked to make sure Castiel wasn't bleeding.

Sam joined them. He looked the angel up and down. "You look awful."

Castiel looked from one brother to the other. He focused on Dean while he talked. "I'm not exactly sure what happened."

Dean pointed to the couch and took Castiel over to it to sit. "Talk Cas."

Castiel shook his head. "I left because…" He looked over at Sam. "I was worried I would hurt you guys. I thought tracking down Alacastor alone was my best choice. So I followed a lead on the humans that worked with him. I found the human female and tracked her for a couple of days. I went to confront her but… I don't know what happened." He looked down at his hands and frowned. "I couldn't stop myself… I attacked her." He looked up at Dean. "I asked her if she knew were Alacastor was after that I just attacked the woman." He balled up his fists.

"Well from what you told us she was a bitch so no real loss there." Dean said. He placed his hand on Castiel's shoulder.

Castiel shook his head. "She did what she did because of that demon. Killing her was not my intention."

Dean squeezed his shoulder. "It's okay Cas."

Sam shook his head. "It's not your fault Cas. Alacastor is controlling you."

"We got to stop him." Dean said.

"So what did you learn from her?" Sam asked

Castiel shook his head. "Unfortunately not much, Alacastor hired them to hunt down different… monsters they had been at it for about a year. Then when they got… me apparently he told them he didn't need them anymore. He paid them and they went their own ways. She hasn't seen him since. Then… I lost control and killed her." He looked down at his hands again and shook his head. He weaved he's grace through them cleaning up the blood. He looked over at the Winchesters and suddenly got up from the couch. "No I'm a danger to all of you."

Dean reached out to him and Castiel moved away from his touch. "Cas buddy it's going to be okay."

The angel looked at the two of them his blue eyes wide and wild. He feared for he's friends' safety he didn't want to risk hurting them. "No… I can't." He started to back away from them.

Dean began to worry that Cas was going to run from them again. He reached out and grabbed the angel. "Stay put!" He commanded. "We can help you just got to let us."

Castiel looked at Dean's hand on his arm then back up at Dean. "Dean I'm scared."

Those words shot through the eldest Winchester like a bullet tearing through flesh. Cas was scared. "Cas." Dean said softly giving his arm a reassuring squeeze.

"How about we put you in the panic room?" Sam suggested. He got up from his position on the couch. "We can even lock you in there if it makes you feel better."

"No!" Dean growled. The thought of his best friend being locked away like a caged animal did not sit well with him.

"Just until we can break this spell." Sam said

Castiel nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."

Dean frowned and looked at his brother then back to Castiel. "You're not a monster you don't need to be locked up."

The angel frowned. "Dean I killed an innocent human,"

"She was a bitch." Dean interjected

"I attacked Sam." He looked down at the floor. "I could hurt you next I almost did back at that motel."

"But you didn't." Dean frowned. Dean had an idea as to way Cas didn't hurt him. He had done some research on his own about it.

Castiel looked at them. "I'll feel safer in the panic room."

The two nodded. They walked down the hall to the panic room. Castiel walked in and waited for the door to be locked.

Dean felt his heart sink when he hear the latches click. He's memory still raw from when Sam was locked in there getting the demon blood out of his system.

"I'm going to call Bobby and tell him Cas is back. Hopefully he found some new research." Sam said and walked off

Dean still stood by the door. Waited until he heard his brother talking to Bobby down the hall. He reached up and unlocked the door and walked into the circular room.

Castiel looked up at him and narrowed his eyes. "Dean I thought we agreed that it's safer if I'm locked away."

Dean shook his head. "You can't hurt me." He said with confidence as he walked into the room.

The angel tilted his head. "What makes you say that?"

He placed his hand on his own shoulder where Castiel had pulled him up from hell. "The profound bond, it's what stopped you isn't it."

The angel frowned. "Yes Dean it is, when I contacted you I amplified our connection."

"Amplified?"

The angel blushed slightly. "You'll be upset but… I can sense or at least feel your feelings. Don't worry the amplification will decrease after some time."

Dean shook his head. "So you felt me not want you to hurt me?"

Castiel tilted his head. "More like a strong command." He held up his hands. "But there is no guarantee it will work every time. I mean I beat Sam before you could stop me."

Dean nodded. "So you're saying that I can break his hold on you."

The angel looked away. "Maybe I'm not real sure myself." He crossed his arms and looked down at the floor. "This is actually a first for me."

"Cas I promise we will figure this out." He patted his arm again and turned away to leave.

"Dean…"

He looked back at his friend. "Yeah Cas."

"Thank you Dean.. for being my friend and I'm sorry this has happened."

Dean nodded. "Still not your fault Cas." And with that Dean left and relocked the door cutting the angel off from them.

Castiel sat on the bed letting out a small sigh. He could still feel Dean. The human was busy trying to think of ways to save him and kill Alacastor. After a few hours the invasion of thoughts finally stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to have his mind to himself. He looked down at the floor thinking. It shouldn't be this hard to find one demon should it. Suddenly his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and answered. "Hello?"

"Castiel?" The voice on the other side was Crowley

"Crowley what do you want?"

"You know I've tried to be a good sport. I've called you about three times already and you finally answer. Don't you check your voice mail?"

Castiel rolled his eyes. "I uh."

"Yeah, yeah I figure I know what happened anyways. So since you're talking the Winchesters still haven't killed you so I figure you still want to kill Alacastor."

Castiel paused. "Do you know where he is?"

"All in due time feathers. I am outside why don't you come out and we can make a deal."

He let out a small hiss. He didn't exactly care for the demon he was well a demon but. "Crowley I don't know about meeting…"

The demon scoffed. "Alacastor isn't in this state you're fine. He's spell only works if he's in the area."

Castiel felt a surge of regret. He was in the same area as him when he made him kill Ella.

"Listen I can just tell your favorite humans about it if you rather but you know they aren't made out of the same stuff as you and I."

"No!" He surprised himself with his tone. "I'll be there shortly." Using his powers he popped the lock on the door and made his way outside. He made himself invisible to the naked eye as he walked past his friends. He looked down at Sam and Dean and a pang of guilt hit. He had heard Dean's thoughts begging him not to leave not to disappear again and he was leaving.

He walked out of Bobby's house. Crowley was standing outside smirking waiting for him.

"Took you long enough feathers." He said

"What is the deal?"

"Wasting no time huh?" He chocked his head and studied the angel before he spoke again. "The deal is, I help you with Alacastor and I call you in on a favor when I need it."

The angel frowned and looked at the demon. "What do you mean?"

Crowley smiled. "Being King has its perks but sometimes you need extra help. I can't be everywhere at once."

"You want me to be an enforcer?"

"Pretty much, just when I can't do it. I call you, you take care of my problem. You are an angel so killing some little demon isn't much is it?"

Castiel looked around then let out a huff of air. "Fine."

The demon held out his hand and he took it and they shook hands. "Pleasure doing business with you Castiel. Now let's kill Alacastor shall we?"

The angel looked back at the house. He was leaving them again. "Sorry." He said which was barely above a whisper and disappeared with Crowley.


	6. Chapter 6

Blood and Feathers

Dean woke up about nine according to his clock. He let out a loud yawn and stretched. He looked around the room and realized they were at Bobby's. He shook his head clearing his mental cobwebs and slowly remembered Cas was in the panic room. He got out of bed and headed to the kitchen. During Cas's time with them he had grown fond of coffee; Dean decided to take him a cup to him.

The smell of coffee was strong as he made his way into the kitchen. He poured a cup and greeted Bobby who was at his desk. "Morning Bobby."

"Morning." Bobby said without looking up

Dean smiled to himself/ "Learn anything yet?"

"Nope." He looked up at Dean. "Having a rough day?" He asked and pointed at the two cups.

Dean shook his head. "No the other one is for Cas."

The older man shrugged. "Oh, I didn't know he liked coffee. I thought he said everything tasted like… molecules."

"He seems to like coffee." Dean said with a shrug. "Did you see him this morning?"

Bobby shook his head. "Figured he wasn't going to talk to me so I saw no point in it." He looked back down at his book. "Seems to prefer you anyways."

Dean frowned and wondered what Bobby meant by that. He chose to ignore the remark and made his way to the panic room. He still hated the fact that Cas choose to lock himself in there but he had a good reason, plus some space might ease Cas's troubled mind. He rapped on the door. "Cas it's me." He said. There was no answer. He knocked again and nothing. Worry flashed through what if Cas did something desperate? He blocked that thought out of his head and opened the door as he juggled the two coffee cups. "Cas." He called as he walked in.

First thing he noticed was that there was no Cas in the room. "Cas!" He called. He thought maybe the angel had gone invisible or something. No angel appeared. He felt weak and the coffee cups hit the ground with a shatter. "Bobby!" He called and before he knew it Bobby was there at his side.

"Heard the shouting." He looked down at the broken coffee cups and frowned.

"Cas is gone!"

"I see that." He looked around. "I didn't see him leave though. You think he flew off?"

Dean began to panic. He rushed around the room and looked for any sign of Cas or a hint as to where he went. All he found was one lone feather under the bed. He picked it up his heart was in his throat. "Cas…"

"You smell that?" Bobby asked as he sniffed the air

Dean brought himself out of his mental fog and sniffed. "Sulfur, you think a demon got him?"

Bobby looked around. "No signs of a struggle though." He looked at Dean his wise old eyes were full of worry. "You think he just left with the demon?"

"Why would he leave with a demon?"

"Maybe the demon threatened us or more to the point threatened to kill you."

Dean frowned. Would Cas really leave some demon willingly? He bit his lip. Worry ate at him, what could he do to save Cas? "Bobby," He started and the older man looked at him. Dean placed his hand on his shoulder where Cas's hand print was until it healed. He could almost feel the bits of grace clawing at him through his own clothes. "Me and Cas we… have a profound bond."

Bobby raised an eye brow. "And?"

Dean gripped his own shirt sleeve. "I think I, I think maybe I can track him."

"What like angel GPS?"

He nodded. "Or something like that. Cas told me that when he contacted me he amplified the bond so he could reach me. It's still like that maybe we can use it to find him."

"What if he doesn't want to be found?"

"I got to try…" He rubbed his arm. "Just give me some time. If I can't reach him maybe he'll get so annoyed with me praying to him he'll come back."

Bobby nodded. "I'll go get Sam then." He left leaving Dean alone.

Dean laid his hand on his arm and tried to think. "Cas." He spoke out loud that helped him think. "Where are you?" He could feel his arm burn and tingle like it did before. He closed his eyes and tried to envision Cas thinking that would help. "Cas where are you? Please come back man. Please I need you." He pleaded. He's throat felt raw like his soul. He pleaded even more poured his soul out into his thoughts. "I don't think I can handle you being gone please come back." Mournful, tearful, sorrowful he cried out to Castiel in the hopes that something could reach him.

 _"Dean."_ He heard Cas's voice speak clear as day.

"Cas?" Dean asked. He felt his hands tremble. Just the sound of his voice made him happy.

 _"What are you doing?"_

"Reaching out to you." In a brief moment he could sense Cas like he was beside him.

 _"Dean just… go on. I am going to handle this. I'll defeat Alacastor just go on with your life. You needn't worry about me anymore."_

"Bull shit, you're family I'm going to worry about you. Now you either tell me where you are or bring your feathery ass back home."

 _"I can't do that Dean. Please understand that I'm doing this to keep you safe."_

After that Dean saw a flash of an image, a location, sharp pain ran through his head and he screamed.

"Dean!" Sam shouted as he rushed to his brother's side and caught him. "What happened?"

"I was contacting Cas." Dean said with a cry as he rubbed his head. He now had a bad headache. "But I now where he is." He whimpered in pain as he held his head which felt like someone was hammering a nail through it. "We got to go."

"But Dean you're clearly hurt." Sam started as he helped Dean up. "What the hell were you thinking anyways?"

"I was trying to save Cas!" He shouted which made his head hurt worse. "Damn it Sam that stupid son of a bitch went out there to kill Alacastor by himself." He gripped Sam's arm to steady himself he felt like the room was spinning around him.

"What?" Sam frowned his tone indicated worry

"Yeah that's what he told me. Said we shouldn't worry about him, it's a damn suicide mission."

Sam shook his head. "But Dean Cas is an angel he can take on a demon he's done it before."

"Yeah but this demon Sam it, it has Cas's number man. I mean he can control him Cas can't go in there guns blazing Alacastor can just take him over and bam gone Cas." He rung his hands. He was so worried he couldn't stand himself.

Sam shook his head. "Okay fine let's go get him." He patted his brother's shoulder. "Even if I said no I know you would just jump in the Impala and take off after him."

He nodded. Sam was right even if he didn't agree to go with Dean, he would go by himself. The sinking nagging feeling that Cas was in trouble just grew at the thought. He pushed himself from Sam and staggered a few steps until he got adjusted. "Okay man let's go."

Castiel's frown deepened. He stared at the cup of coffee in front of him as if it personally offended him.

"What's wrong, you look even more constipated than usual." Crowley snipped as he lifted up his own coffee. While neither needed food they were both at least trying to blend in and plot their move.

"No I'm not, plus angels don't defecate." He responded. He could feel the pull of Dean still even though he lost contact. Dean was so desperate, so hurt and in such need of his return. Cas started at the foggy coffee as it grew cold. Maybe this was a bad decision? He felt Dean's longing for him again and Cas clutched the table. He had grown used to hearing the man's prayers, him calling out to him but since he increased Dean's range when he reached out for help it was much worse. Painful almost, Dean was so needy afraid of him never returning to him.

"It's your boyfriend isn't it?" The demon asked.

"Dean's not my 'boyfriend'." Cas said using air quotes on the word boyfriend.

The other man rolled his eyes. "Whatever, listen your ambiguous relationship with Dean isn't part of the conversation." About that time another man approached and Crowley held out his hand.

The new man laid some paper in his hand. "Lord Crowley I found the plans for the building."

"Thank you Mark." Crowley said

Cas eyes the blueprints with a weary glance. Working with Crowley was not exactly his idea of a good time. But as the humans say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. "How many is in the building?"

"Straight to business again? Angels are so practical." The king of Hell teased

Cas narrowed his eyes at him. He wanted nothing more to drive his angel blade in the man. He was driving him insane. Between Dean's constant prayers for his return and Crowley's constant talking and snide remarks he was ready for a drink. He mentally sighed; he needed to stop hanging around Dean so much he was going to pick up that drinking habit.

"There are about five people in total. Counting Alacastor, three demons and two hunters he seemed to have picked up, ugh Sir Castiel." Mark said

"Ooh sir is it," Crowley grinned. He looked at Cas. "Did they ever call you that in the garrison?"

Cas shot him a dirty look and looked at the other demon. "Thank you, Mark."

The demon nodded and smiled as if Cas thanking him meant he wouldn't smite him later. "You are welcome, sir Castiel." He looked to his leader. "I have assembled about five other demons to join us. Alacastor has he's human pets leave to gather more monsters."

"Hmm if we can get in maybe we can turn the monsters against them." Cas said. He finally sipped his long cold coffee. The nagging pull of Dean calling out to him returned and he shook his head. He picked up on the fact that Dean and Sam were coming for him. Great just what he needed. He wondered why these humans felt such a need to protect him.

"Good idea." Crowley smirked. "See you're a great leader." He gave him a dark smile. "If you ever need a job in Hell I'm sure I can open up a place for you."

"Never, once we are done with this I am done with you." Castiel snapped. Anger raged how dare that demon think he would simply work in hell for him.

"You forget our deal mate?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Our deal says nothing of me working in hell with your kind. Our deal was I kill demons that get out of hand."

"You see Mark," Crowley started. "You should drop the sir as Cassie here thinks he's better than us."

Cas slammed his hand on the table anger spilled over like the cup of cold coffee. "Get to the point!"

The patrons stared at the trio and Crowley waved his hand making them freeze. "Castiel your anger is showing. You're scaring the humans."

He stood up from the table. "I do not have time for your nonsense demon!" He huffed. He was ready to leave, he was done with Crowley. The so called King of Hell just kept smiling like everything was coming up roses.

"You can't do this without me you know. You go in there no distraction, he wraps your mind and bam no more Cassie. Your precious human never to be seen again." He got up from the table. "Is that what you want Castiel? Loose Dean and Sam like that; hell Alacastor will probably make you kill them for the fun of it."

He looked away Crowley was right, going alone would be suicide as long as Alacastor had the spell on him. He sighed and nodded. "Fine."

"There's a good little angel." He picked up the blueprint of the building. "Let's go."

Castiel found himself outside the old building beside Crowley. The demon had stopped teasing him since he's blow up at the dinner. He wondered what Crowley's end game in all this. It was clear they were using each other. The demons charged in and him and King of Hell followed suit. The plan was that the lesser demons would take out Alacastor's crew and Crowley would make said demon undo the spell or kill him. He wanted to make an example out of him.

"Selling monsters is just bad for business." Crowley said and pulled Castiel out of his thoughts. The demon was in front of a cage that had a very ill ghoul in it. "All this does is make hell look bad. Alacastor is supposed to be getting souls not making himself rich."

The angel frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "Demons are deplorable."

"You're still hanging out with one."

They kept walking and Crowley stopped him. Castiel however could sense Alacastor ahead of them.

"I know you're here." Alacastor called. "Might as well come out, or I'll drag you out."

The two of them stepped out of the shadows.

"Crowley and the angel Castiel what a par. Didn't know you know each other."

"We have friends in common." Crowley said.

"What brings you two here?" Alacastor asked with a smirk.

"Oh you know me don't really care for a demon who goes off on his own. Here you're after my job," Crowley pointed at Castiel. "And he well he's really pissed at you for plucking him and putting him under a spell."

Alacastor laughed. "Oh really, yes Alacastor King of Hell does sound good does it not." He looked over at Castiel. "Have me a big strong angel on my side. He's a good dog he'll do what I want."

"I am not your dog." Castiel said his angel blade dropped into his hand. He stepped forward aiming to kill.

Alacastor held up his hand. "No you see someone," He smiled and Castiel felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Had already come to visit." He snapped his fingers and two demons dragged out the Winchesters.

"Damn." Crowley mumbled.

The two of them looked worse for wear. "What did you do?" Cas demanded.

The demon shrugged. "Caught them spying so I roughed them up. This is pretty simple Castiel. I need you in my inner circle. Demons are afraid of angels you see and if I have you as my personal attack dog then well it would be a lot easier to gather an army. After all no one would go against a guy with an angel on his team." He looked at Crowley. "Right Crowley. Getting the bigger kid to fight your playground fight."

Cas stared at the brothers; the two of them were tied up and Dean was unconscious. Sam looked at him his face bloodied. Anger boiled in Castiel. He let out an animal like cry and charged at Alacastor.

"Stop!" The demon said and held up a hand

Cas stopped. He had no control of his body. Fear washed through him.

"Damn angel. Maybe I should just get another one you're a pain in my ass." Alacastor said

"Feathers get it together!" Crowley shouted.

Cas could sense Crowley's fear. He knew why he couldn't control himself. While he wanted to stab the demon earlier he wanted to it on his own terms.

Alacastor looked at him his dark eyes seemed to look straight into Castiel. "Castiel," He said in an even tone. "Kill the Winchesters."

Cas wanted to scream and shout but he couldn't. He's body started forward towards his friends, his brothers. _No!_ He shouted in his mind. He got closer he could see the pure horror in Sam's eyes.

"Please Cas don't! You got to fight this!" Sam begged

"Feathers!" Crowley called. Cas could sense him backing away a rat leaving the sinking ship.

Cas raised his angel blade. Sam screwed his eyes shut and waited for it all to end.

"Don't!"

Cas stopped when he heard the voice call. Slowly he regained control of his mind. He let go of the angel blade and it hit the ground with a thud.

"Oh man." Sam breathed a sigh of relief

Cas looked over at Dean who had woken up. "Dean."

He smiled at him. "Couldn't just forget about you."

There were sudden shouts from around them. Castiel moved fast and untied the two Winchesters.

Crowley smirked at Alacastor. "I came prepared."

Alacastor looked at Castiel and raised his hand up. "Kill them."

It didn't work this time.

"Ain't going to do it this time buddy." Dean said with a smirk. "See we broke your little spell on him."

The demon's eyes grew wide preparing to smoke out of his body but Castiel was faster. The angel warped across the room and planted his blade deep in the demon's chest. Alacastor screamed as body crumbled. It was over and done. Cas cleaned off his blade with a rag he had in his coat. He looked at Crowley and pointed the blade to him.

Crowley held up his hands. "Pleasure doing business with you boys. See you around." And he vanished.

"Scum, shame we didn't get him too," Dean said

Cas felt relief wash over him. It was over finally over. He glared down at the fallen demon's body. "At least this is done and over with." As soon as he said that Dean pulled him into a tight hug.

"Damn it Cas. Next time don't go and take off like that. Especially with Crowley."

"Sorry Dean." He patted the hunter on his back as he held him closer.

Sam patted him on his shoulder. "Glad you're back Cas."

Cas smiled. "Me too Sam." Dean let him go and Cas hugged Sam.

The three of them headed out of the building after taking care of the monsters and the left over demons.

Castiel smiled to himself as he got in the back of the Impala. Dean talked about going to a bar and Cas didn't care as long as he was with his family. The car eased down the road Led Zeppelin blaring and Castiel wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
